I love the smell of data in the morning!
Interesting and surprising statistics about digital media and devices. Compiled & curated by Dan Calladine, Aegis Media - dan.calladine@aemedia.com -
All views expressed are my own. Please email me if you have any queries, amendments or suggestions. Follow me on twitter - I'm @dancall

Friday, 29 June 2012

"Zynga’s chief mobile officer David Ko said that the company has reached 22 million daily active users on mobile. If you consider that Zynga has about 53 million daily active users on Facebook, it’s a pretty strong sign that the company is diversifying on the Facebook platform (although we can’t deduplicate these figures for players who use Zynga games on multiple platforms)."

"Facebook's U.S. advertising growth has slowed down to a third of what it was in 2011, according to a report issued Wednesday.
After growing at impressive rates in the 60% range during the first three quarters of 2011, Facebook's advertising growth fell by more than half to 30% in the fourth quarter, and during the first part of 2012, the growth rate went down to 21.2%, according to a report by the IDC.
The slowing growth has resulted in Facebook losing market share. After holding on to almost 14% of display advertising at the end of 2011, Facebook's share is now down to 12%.
"They're still growing, but they're not growing as fast as they should," said report author Karsten Weide, the program vice president of media and entertainment at IDC."

"Hi-tech smartphones have driven down the sales of digital cameras by 29 per cent in five years, research shows.
Althought the digital camera market was still worth £598 million in 2011, this is down by nearly a third from 2006, when it was worth £843 million.
Eight per cent of UK adults, or three million consumers, now say they are unlikely to replace their camera when it breaks, instead relying on their phones."

"May 2012 marks the first month that Nielsen is publicly reported streaming measurement on thousands of YouTube partners. The top five YouTube Partner channels, led by Vevo, Warner Music Group and Machinima, combined for nearly 1.5 billion total streams. YouTube provides content creators with tools and programs to improve their skills, build their audiences, and monetize their videos."

"Facebook ads work for us. We’ve spent about $10 million over the past two years at about a 3.5:1 ROI. About 99 percent of that spend has gone toward direct-response ads driving traffic to Zappos.com. If we were to look at Facebook ads on their own, a 3.5 ROI is not sustainable and is well below our overall direct-marketing program’s ROI expectations. But when we consider where Facebook ads fall in the sales funnel and compare them to similar marketing efforts (mainly category-head search terms), they deliver similar performance, fuel other channels (drive long-tail search and comparison-shopping queries), and are one of our best marketing channels for driving new customers."

"Criteo reviewed $11.5B of e-commerce sales from sites with which it partners which provider personalized display ads. It looked at internet browsers exposed to a Criteo retargeting ad during the first seven days of March 2012, numbering 147 million unique browsers. The company split this population into two – those who had clicked on a Criteo banner in the previous six months, and those who had not.
Among the “realities” Criteo claims to have discovered:
Clickers buy 3X more frequently than non-clickers. “Demographics are taken by comScore as a proxy for user value…[we] measure user value directly, in terms of online purchases of clickers and non-clickers,” wrote Criteo.
Almost half of regular buyers click on Criteo ads alone. Non-buyers clicked through at a rate of 15%, while occasional buyers clicked through at 33%and regular buyers at 43%. So, regular buyers are regular clickers.
20% of browsers are responsible for 50% of clicks and sales. This dispels comScore’s 10% finding.
The more browsers click, the more they buy."

Thursday, 28 June 2012

"17% of cell phone owners do most of their online browsing on their phone, rather than a computer or other device. Most do so for convenience, but for some their phone is their only option for online access.
Some 88% of U.S. adults own a cell phone of some kind as of April 2012, and more than half of these cell owners (55%) use their phone to go online. We call these individuals “cell internet users” throughout this report, and this represents a notable increase from the 31% of cell owners who said that they used their phone to go online as recently as April 2009.
Moreover, 31% of these current cell internet users say that they mostly go online using their cell phone, and not using some other device such as a desktop or laptop computer. That works out to 17% of all adult cell owners who are “cell-mostly internet users”—that is, who use their phone for most of their online browsing."

Methodology: "These are the findings from a national telephone survey conducted March 15-April 3, 2012 among 2,254 adults age 18 and over, including 903 interviews conducted on the respondent’s cell phone. Interviews were conducted in English and Spanish. The margin of error for all cell phone owners (n=1,954) is plus or minus 2.6 percentage points, and the margin of error for cell phone owners who go online using their phones (n=929) is plus or minus 3.7 percentage points."

"According to the latest research from Strategy Analytics, Apple has generated US$150 billion of cumulative revenues for its iPhone family in the first five years since launch in June 2007. A quarter of a billion iPhones have been shipped cumulatively worldwide.
Neil Shah, Senior Analyst at Strategy Analytics, said, "Apple's first iPhone was launched commercially in the United States on June 29, 2007. Between June 2007 and June 2012, we estimate the iPhone family of models has generated US$150 billion of cumulative revenues worldwide for Apple. This is an impressive achievement and it illustrates just how popular the iPhone has become during the past five years.""

Wednesday, 27 June 2012

"Twitter is big. With over 140 million active users, and 340 million Tweets per day, the social network is one that brands cannot ignore. Indeed, few brands are ignoring Twitter. Our recent report with global research firm Booz and Co. shows that 77% consider Twitter a priority social media platform.
It's great that brands are active on Twitter, but it's crucial they know best practices for publishing engaging content. Reach and engament can vary drastically with minor tweaks, so between December 11, 2011 and February 23, 2012, Buddy Media analyzed user engagement from more than 320 Twitter handles of the world's biggest brands. Primary success metrics included:
Reply Rate: number of replies as a percentage of followers
Retweet Rate: number of Retweets as a percentage of followers (includes manual retweets)
Engagement Rate: a combination of the replies and Retweets in the number of followers
The result is our latest data report, "Strategies for Effective Tweeting: A Statistical Review." We encourage you to download the report and share it with your friends and colleagues. We also included a "Tweet Cheat Sheet" that you can print and hang in your office or cubicle. The report is a companion to our popular Facebook report, "Strategies for Effective Wall Posts: A Statistical Review."
Here are some of the key findings from the report:
Tweeting during the day is the way to go. Tweets during "busy hours" (8AM-7PM) receive 30% higher engagement than Tweets published outside that time frame. This includes Tweets published on Saturday and Sunday.
Keep it short and sweet, and watch people Tweet. Our study found that Tweets containing less than 100 characters receive 17% higher engagement than longer Tweets.
Use hashtags, but don't overdo it. Tweets with hashtags receive two times more engagement than those without hashtags. But going overboard has a negative impact. Tweets with one or two hashtags receive 21% higher engagement than those with three or more hashtags. Using more than two hashtags actually leads to a 17% drop in engagement."
Source: Press release from Buddy Media, 26th June 2012

"Microsoft Corp. and Yammer Inc. today announced that they have entered into a definitive agreement under which Microsoft will acquire Yammer, a leading provider of enterprise social networks, for $1.2 billion in cash. Yammer will join the Microsoft Office Division, led by division President Kurt DelBene, and the team will continue to report to current CEO David Sacks."

Tuesday, 26 June 2012

"New data from The 2012 Q1 Shopping Insights Mobile Study shows that:
IPad users now account for about two-thirds (68 percent) of mobile shoppers.
The iPad drives an enormous 90 percent of all mobile revenue (and 4 percent of total retail revenue).
Conversion rates were strongest with the iPad (1.5 percent for iPad vs. 0.57 percent for other mobile devices).
Compared with all other mobile devices, average pages per session were highest for the iPad, at nearly six pages per session (5.7 for iPads vs. 3.6 for iPhone vs. 4.1 for other mobile devices).
The iPad had the highest average order value (AOV) of any mobile device: $158 for iPad vs. $105 for other mobile devices vs. $104 for iPhone and other iOS devices in March 2012.
Interestingly, AOV for iPad shopping is even creeping ahead of the AOV from desktop computers ($158 for iPad vs. $153 from desktops)."

Monday, 25 June 2012

"England's Euro 2012 exit brought a live match average audience of just over 20 million to BBC1 on Sunday night – the biggest football ratings on any channel since the national team departed from Euro 2004, also after penalties.
BBC1's live match coverage of England's defeat by Italy on penalties, after the match finished 0-0 following extra time, averaged 20.2 million viewers and a 67.8% audience share over two and three quarter hours from 7.45pm.
Viewing hit a five-minute peak of 23.2 million viewers, a 77.4% audience share, towards the end of the match. This was the highest five-minute peak figure for any programme on any channel since England v Portual in Euro 2004.
Full coverage, including pre and post match comment and analysis, averaged 17.4 million and a 62.3% share between 7pm and 10.45pm.
This was the biggest football audience since England went out of Euro 2004 on penalties to Portugal in Euro 2004.
That Thursday night match in June 2004 on BBC1 had a live match average of 20.7 million and a five-minute peak of 24.7 million.
The biggest live match average for a football game in recent times is 23.8 million, for ITV's coverage of England's departure from the 1998 World Cup – once again on penalties, this time to Argentina."
Source: The Guardian, 25th June 2012
Note - Barb only measures viewing at home - people watching in pubs etc were not counted

"The study found that over 71 per cent of smartphone users across all four countries (YK, France, Germany & Sweden) are researching potential purchases via mobile, and more than half (53 per cent) are buying goods and services other than downloads on their device.
Survey results for tablet owners demonstrate the immense power of this new platform, with 40 per cent of users researching a potential purchase and 33 per cent going on to complete a transaction. Tablet users are also among the highest mobile spenders, with the average highest amount spent quoted at £185 compared to £113 on mobile.
The ‘portability’ of mobile devices encourages anytime, anywhere research and purchasing. Even when smartphone users are in-store, retailers cannot rest easy: with 42 per cent of users comparing prices and 13 per cent switching stores after spotting a more attractive offer elsewhere. Location-based offers or vouchers, however, help to secure the interest of a fifth of potential buyers. Overall, one in four mobile research sessions ends with a purchase being completed on the phone itself.The research reveals that the lack of mobile-optimised sites – ones that are clear, tailored, quick and easy to navigate - is a headache for more than a third of European consumers. A quarter (26 per cent) of respondents said they would buy via mobile more frequently if websites were optimised.
The study shows that the UK has frequent but generally more frustrated mobile shoppers (50 per cent, compared with a European ‘frustration’ average of 33 per cent), while many users in France (38 per cent) believe mobile shopping saves them time. German consumers feel that buying over mobile is no different to purchasing via a computer (44 per cent) and Swedes are most likely to turn to their mobile phone in-store. These national differences have far-reaching implications for advertisers looking to develop internationally optimised mobile offerings and affiliate programmes."

Wednesday, 20 June 2012

"Rebecca Minkoff first started using Instagram when designer Ms. Minkoff shared “shoe of the day” images that showed her outfit from her legs down.
The amount of “likes” and comments that the images receive can go into the thousands, per Mr. Minkoff.
Using Instagram allows Rebecca Minkoff to use the reciprocated data in two ways.
The first is for design feedback. Since most of the interaction on Instagram comes within the first few hours, the design team is able to get instantaneous feedback on products.
The second reason is to drive sales. The Rebecca Minkoff brand is able to interact with the comments that it sees on images and steer consumers towards retail partners or brand hubs.
As a result, Rebecca Minkoff shoe spring sales were the strongest that they ever were – up 100 percent. In addition, sales are projected to be up 200 percent this year, per Mr. Minkoff."

"Of the combined total of 166.93 mln 3G subs, China Mobile holds 38.50%, China Unicom 32.65%, and China Telecom 28.85%. Of total new mobile subs added in May, China Mobile took 45.73%, dropping its share of China's total mobile user base to 65.48%. China Unicom's share of the total mobile user base increased for the 16th straight month, rising from 20.78% at the end of April to 20.86% at the end of May, while China Telecom's share increased for the 41st straight month, rising from 13.53% at the end of April to 13.66% at the end of May."

Tuesday, 19 June 2012

"Although smartphone shipments grew 41% year-over-year to 144.6 million as of the quarter ending March 2012, many smartphone OEMs are not enjoying the benefits of a rapidly expanding market. Samsung and Apple captured 55% of global smartphone shipments in 1Q’2012 and over 90% of the market’s profits. The question remains: can anyone break away to become a strong third in this market?"

"American publishers are now bringing in more revenue from ebooks than hardcover books, according to a report published by the Association of American Publishers (AAP).
The figures, which were posted on GalleyCat on Friday, show that net sales revenue from ebooks exceeded that of hardcover books in the first quarter of the year: a first. The data was compiled from 1,189 publishers and did not include children’s books.
Collectively, adult ebooks brought in $282.3 million in Q1. That’s an impressive 28.4% increase from the same period a year ago. Young adult and children’s ebooks performed even better, catapulting 233% to $64.3 million. Sales of adult hardcover books grew too, but more modestly, up 2.7% to $229.6 million in Q1 2012."
Source: Mashable, 17th June 2012

Friday, 15 June 2012

"Domino's Pizza is giving its customers the thanks they deserve, as it celebrates – for the first time in its history – surpassing the $1 billion mark in digital sales in the U.S. alone, during a yearlong period from April 2011 to 2012."

"Tesco has bought the digital music service We7 for £10.8m as the retail giant moves further into home entertainment.
The supermarket company has taken a 91% stake in London-based We7, with the remaining shares to be purchased within weeks.
Genesis frontman Peter Gabriel is expected to make a £2m windfall from the deal from his We7 stake. He founded the "digital jukebox" with Steve Purdham, the chief executive, in 2007."

"Square claims that it is now handling USD6bn in mobile transactions annually, up 20% from the volume of payments in April, when the firm reported USD5bn. Square, which lets users make payments using a smartphone plug-in, says it now employs 300 staff and is also appointing its first CFO, with the milestones indicating the firm’s growing maturity. Former Salesforce VP Sarah Friar is joining the company amid rumours that Square is in the process of raising its next round of funding. The news comes as Square faces mounting competition from rival PayPal, which recently launched its own plug-in card reader, as competition in the mobile payments market continues to rise.
Square, the mobile payment company started by Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey, just broke 2 million users, six months after it surpassed 1 million.
The company is now processing more than $6 billion in payments as well on an annualized basis. That figure represents huge growth for Square. Last year at this time, the company was hoping to process $1 billion in payments “within the next year.”"

"China passes Germany in 2011: Thirteen countries in 2011 had E&M spending above $25 billion, led by the United States at $464 billion. China passed Germany in 2011 to become the third largest E&M market in the world. Brazil overtook South Korea in 2011 and during the next five years will pass Canada and Italy to become the seventh largest market."

Wednesday, 13 June 2012

"Apple turns over its inventory once every five days.
That's part of why a new report from the technology research firm, Gartner, ranked Apple's supply chain the best in the world. And it's pretty amazing when you think about it. This is a company that sells hundreds of millions of hardware gadgets all over the world and yet it doesn't actually need to stockpile its goods.
The only company on Gartner's list of 25 companies that turns over its product faster is McDonald's, which is not exactly in the electronics business. Dell and Samsung rank two and three in Apple's category, turning over their inventory roughly once every 10 and 21 days respectively."

Tuesday, 12 June 2012

"Apple CEO Tim Cook [has] announced that the company is now host to over 400 million accounts on the App Store, with more than 650,000 apps available to customers.
Cook added that 225,000 of them designed for iPad and 30 billion apps have been downloaded in total.
Putting things into perspective, Cook said that the App Store is now operational in more than 120 countries, with 35 more to be added by the end of this month.
[...]
Focusing on developers (it’s a developer event after all), some $5 billion has been paid to developers since the launch of the App Store."
Source: Tim Cook, speaking at WWDC, Reported by TheNextWeb, 12th June 2012
Earlier - 25bn announced on 5th March10bn announced on 22nd January 2011

The live, after-show spin-off to Made In Chelsea, had an average of 11,000 viewers on E4 for each of its 8 episodes. A further 270,000 views were generated in total on 4oD, the catch-up service.
In addition there were 100,000 live engagements (Tweets, Facebook comments, polls) over the 8 episodes.
The broadcast show got an average of 483,000 viewers for it's 2012 series.
Source: Paraphrased from Broadcast (paywall), 1st June 2012, linked to here, or here

"Internet advertising revenues for the first quarter of 2012 set a new record for the reporting period at $8.4 billion, according to the latest IAB Internet Advertising Report from the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) and PwC U.S. It is the highest first-quarter revenue ever measured by the IAB and PwC and a $1.1 billion--or 15 percent increase--over the $7.3 billion figure reported in the first quarter 2011.
"More online consumers than ever are taking to the internet to inform and navigate their daily lives--by desktop, tablet or smartphone," said Randall Rothenberg, President and CEO, IAB. "Marketers and agencies are clearly--and wisely--investing dollars to reach digitally connected consumers."
"Digital media captures consumers' imaginations, and marketers increasingly turn to interactive advertising to successfully speak to their customers," said Sherrill Mane, Senior Vice President, Research, Analytics & Measurement, IAB.
"The year-over-year growth between Q1 2011 and Q1 2012 sets quite a milestone," said David Silverman, Partner, PwC U.S. "Moreover, a 15 percent increase over the comparable period in 2011 is a solid affirmation the internet is delivering on its promise to attract consumers and the advertising dollars that follow."
The IAB sponsors the IAB Internet Advertising Revenue Report, which is conducted independently by the New Media Group of PwC. The results are considered the most accurate measurement of interactive advertising revenues because the data is compiled directly from information supplied by companies selling advertising on the Internet. The survey includes data concerning online advertising revenues from Web sites, commercial online services, free email providers, and all other companies selling digital advertising."
Source: Data from the IAB & PwC, reported in a press release, 11th June 2012

"comScore, Inc, a leader in measuring the digital world, today released new insights on the U.S. tablet market from comScore TabLens™, its forthcoming monthly syndicated service providing insights into tablet ownership and usage. The report found that tablets have quickly reached a critical mass in the U.S. with 1 in every 4 smartphone owners using tablets during the three-month average period ending April 2012. The study also found that tablet users were nearly three times more likely to watch video on their device compared to smartphone users, with 1 in every 10 tablet users viewing video content almost daily on their device.
[...]
In just two years since the launch of the iPad, the first tablet to reach a meaningful market penetration, tablet adoption has exploded fueled by the introduction of new devices that appeal to various price and feature preferences. In April 2012, 16.5 percent of mobile phone subscribers used a tablet, representing an increase of 11.8 percentage points in the past year. Growth in market penetration was even more apparent among the smartphone population with nearly 1 in 4 using a tablet device in April, an increase of 13.9 percentage points in the past year. A lower 10.4 percent of feature phone owners use a tablet, suggesting that smartphone ownership is highly predictive of tablet adoption in the current market.
[...]
A demographic analysis of mobile device audiences indicated that tablet and smartphone audiences closely resemble one another in terms of gender composition, with tablet users just slightly more likely to be female than smartphone users. However, the age composition of audiences showed that tablet users skewed noticeably older than smartphone users. For both devices, the heaviest overall audience concentration was between the ages of 25-44. Compared to smartphone owners, tablet users were 28 percent more likely to be in the 65 and older age segment, and 27 percent less likely to be age 18-24.
Tablet users also skewed towards upper income households, likely a function of the high price point of these devices still considered a luxury good to many consumers. Nearly 3 in 5 tablet users resided in households with income of $75,000 or greater, compared to 1 in every 2 smartphone users."
Source: Data from comScore MobiLens, reported in a press release, 8th June 2012

Monday, 11 June 2012

"Here's more evidence that Google's Android is peaking and (as if we needed it) that Research in Motion's BlackBerry is headed south. In a survey released to clients Thursday, the Consumer Intelligence Research Partners found that more iPhones were purchased in April by U.S. customers leaving Apple's competitors than by owners of earlier iPhone models. Of the customers who bought iPhones in April, according to CIRP:
42% were switching from another smartphone, up from 36% in February.
Specifically, 38% were coming from either Android or BlackBerry, up from 29%.
34% were upgrades from earlier iPhones, down from 71% immediately after the iPhone 4S launch last fall
24% were switching from a feature phone or buying their very first mobile phone."
Source: Fortune, 7th June 2012

"Pinterest is dominating as a social site where consumers and retailers connect, according to a new comScore-led study. On the image-rich site, retailers can easily showcase their wares in a flashy digital format, and shoppers are eating (and buying) it up.
According to the new comScore-conducted survey of some 1,500 consumers in the U.S., Pinterest users follow an average of 9.3 retailers on the site, compared with 8.5 by Twitter users, and 6.9 by Facebook users.
Nearly two in five online consumers surveyed follow retailers on one or more social-networking sites, found the survey, results of which were published as the 2012 Social and Mobile Commerce Study, a combined research effort among comScore, Shop.org, and The Partnering Group, and analysts found that a social- and mobile-customized approach is leading to social commerce success for retailers."

"Twitter has generated more advertising revenue from its mobile platform than from its website on many days in the last quarter, CEO Dick Costolo said Wednesday, highlighting Twitter's progress in squeezing ad dollars out of the growing number of smartphone and tablet users worldwide.
Speaking at a conference hosted by The Economist Group in San Francisco, Costolo made his remarks at a time when newly public Facebook, a competitor in the social Internet arena, faces intense pressure to improve its business performance on mobile."

Wednesday, 6 June 2012

"The internet has become an essential way for brands to communicate and engage with consumers:
51% say the internet helps them choose better products/services
47% are inclined to find out more about products they see advertised online
46% of internet users say they often visit the website of their favourite brands
41% of European internet users agree that the way a brand communicates online is important
30% of internet users are more likely to buy a product of a brand they follow on a social networking site.
96% of European internet users research online for purchases, 87% shop online and almost one fifth (19%) of all their shopping is done via the internet. In a six month period Europeans spent €188 billion buying goods and services online – an average of €544 per European online shopper. Norwegian internet shoppers averaged the highest spend online (€1,162) followed by Swiss (€919) and Danish (€894) online shoppers. UK internet users devote the greatest share of total shopping spend to online (32.0%) followed by German (25.4%)."

"What stands out in this research is how much of this ‘traditional’ media is now being consumed online.
91% of internet users read news online (388.5m) - men are more likely to be consumers of news online than women (93% vs. 89%) and 35-54 year olds are the most likely to read news online - at 93%
73% of internet users watch TV online (311.6m) - 16-24 year olds are the most likely to watch TV online - at 83% - closely followed by 35-44 year olds (81%)
67% of internet users listen to the radio online (286.0m) – this increases to 81% of 16-24s and men are more likely than women to listen to the radio online (68% vs. 66%)
The research shows that a staggering 48% of Europeans say they use the internet whilst they watch TV (297.4m) and 16% of all time spent watching TV in Europe is done whilst using the internet. Europe’s heaviest online/TV multi-taskers are the Norwegians at 70%, followed by 68% of TV watchers in France and 62% of those watching TV in the UK. The good news for advertisers is that one third (33%) of all TV and online multi-taskers say the online activity they’re doing is likely to be related to the TV programme they’re watching so there is a significant opportunity for brands to engage the consumer via both platforms.
Alison Fennah, Vice President of Research and Marketing for IAB Europe comments, “It’s no longer appropriate or sensible to think of ‘using the internet’ as a specific and isolated activity. The ever-wider variety of devices that people use to access online content and the degree to which they do this while using other media shows the deep level of engagement consumers have with the internet today. For instance, many Europeans are clearly using the web and watching TV simultaneously, and a third of those are actually consuming complementary content. Those companies that understand and adapt to these changing consumption patterns will be the ones that succeed in the future.” "

Methodology: "Conducted using a combination of online, telephone and face-to-face methodologies totalling over 50,000 interviews across 28 markets Mediascope Europe now ranks as one of the leading sources of data on European consumer use of media and online shopping habits."

"426.9 million Europeans go online every week (65%) with than one third (37%) accessing the internet using more than one device. 64% of people access the web via a computer – that’s 415.7 million people – and 21% use the internet on their mobile phone (139.2m). Using the internet via a computer is most popular in Norway and Switzerland (89%) and users are most likely to be aged between 25-44 years old (44%). Mobile internet users are most likely to be 16-24 years old (30%) and using the internet via a mobile phone is most popular in the UK, Norway and Sweden where more than 4 in 10 access the internet via this device.
Time spent on the web differs by the device used – European’s spend a total of 14.8 hours online each week – those using a computer spend 13.3 hours, compared to 9.4 hours amongst those using mobile phones and 9.3 hours for those using tablets. The figure is 6.8 hours via games console."

Source: Press release from IAB Europe, 6th June 2012
Methodology: "Conducted using a combination of online, telephone and face-to-face methodologies totalling over 50,000 interviews across 28 markets Mediascope Europe now ranks as one of the leading sources of data on European consumer use of media and online shopping habits."

"The Interactive Advertising Bureau Europe (IAB Europe) is pleased to announce the latest findings from Mediascope Europe, the industry standard European media consumption study first launched in 2003 – measuring evolving media consumption patterns across online, radio, TV, newspapers and magazines. The study also covers internet use across four devices for the first time – computer, mobile, tablets and games consoles.
Key European findings revealed at IAB Europe’s Interact conference:
426.9m Europeans use the internet (65%), spending 14.8 hours online each week
One third (37%) of Europeans access the internet using more than one device
Traditional media activities are rapidly moving online with more than 9 in 10 European internet users visiting news websites
Europeans are using the web and watching TV simultaneously to complement their viewing experience
The internet has become an essential way for brands to engage with consumers with 4 in 10 European internet users agreeing that the way a brand communicates online is important
96% of European internet users research online for purchases and 87% shop online"
Source: Press release from IAB Europe, 6th June 2012
Methodology: "Conducted using a combination of online, telephone and face-to-face methodologies totalling over 50,000 interviews across 28 markets Mediascope Europe now ranks as one of the leading sources of data on European consumer use of media and online shopping habits."

"Pinterest isn’t just one of the fastest-growing social networks around. It is also driving shoppers to make purchases.
32% of online shoppers have made a purchase based on what they’ve seen on Pinterest and other image-sharing sites, according to a new survey from Bizrate Insights. These sites focus primarily on enabling consumers to select images and other content from the web, rather than posting original content as shoppers often do on sites like Facebook or Twitter. While Pinterest is the dominant image-sharing site, with 18.2 million unique visitors in March, according to web traffic measurement firm Compete.com, other sites in the category include Polyvore (which had 2.2 million unique visitors in March) and Juxtapost (13,340 unique visitors in March).
The report also found 37% of consumers have seen on image-sharing sites items they want to buy but have not. Bizrate’s report is based on a survey of 3,741 online shoppers conducted in late March. The report gave no similar data for Facebook or other social networks."

"Consumer packaged goods (CPG) brands can experience a return of almost three dollars in incremental sales for every dollar spent in online advertising that has been precisely delivered using purchase-based information, according to research from Nielsen Catalina Solutions (NCS), a leader in measuring and improving advertising performance using purchaser-based analytics.
These findings, based on what NCS believes to be the most in-depth study on the correlation between online advertising and offline purchase, indicate a turning point for the digital medium as marketers seek to better leverage their advertising budgets across multiple channels.
“Not only can we prove that online advertising drives sales, but the returns on ad spends are significant when purchaser-based data is used to optimize the media buy,” said Mike Nazzaro, CEO of Nielsen Catalina Solutions. “The marketer’s ability to precisely reach the desired consumer segment in the right media enabled by shopper-based analytics is changing the way advertisers plan and buy media,” Nazzaro said.
Nielsen Catalina Solutions and Nielsen completed more than 800 studies over the past seven years, collaborating with more than 300 CPG brands and 80 companies to measure the correlation between online advertising and offline consumer purchases."

Note: 'Purchase-based information' is a pretty vague term, but here's their definition:

"Nielsen and Catalina established Nielsen Catalina Solutions as a joint venture enabling the CPG advertising industry to understand how advertising influences purchase behavior for TV, online, mobile, CRM and print using single-source analytics. The joint venture integrates viewing data from Nielsen and directly from media companies and purchase data from Nielsen Homescan and Catalina’s shopper data warehouse incorporating a subset of over 60 million households from participating retailers."

"Sony shares fell to their lowest level since 1980 on Japan's Nikkei stock exchange today. That drop follows yesterday's report that the company suffered a net loss of $5.7 billion for the last fiscal year. The once dominant tech company has fallen behind other industry giants like Samsung and Apple, and has seen especially heavy losses in its TV division."

"The Apple iPad extended its lead in the global market for tablet computers at the start of 2012 while Amazon's Kindle Fire flamed out after a sizzling introduction, a survey showed Monday.
The ABI Research survey showed overall global sales of media tablets amounted to 18.2 million in the first three months of the year, up 185 percent from a year earlier, but down 33 percent from the fourth quarter gift-giving season.
Apple held 65 percent of the market with 11.8 million iPad shipments, boosted by the launch of a third-generation model and price reductions on the iPad 2, the report said.
Samsung grabbed the number two spot with 1.1 million shipments, or six percent of the market, overtaking Amazon, which saw an 80 percent quarter-over-quarter drop in sales of the Kindle Fire, according to ABI."

"CMOs will soon be spending more on technology than CIOs at the world's biggest marketers, which is why Salesforce.com added social-measurement firm Radian 6 last year, and now Buddy Media, in a $689 million deal announced Monday.
With the deal, Salesforce is looking to build out tech tools for marketers as they increasingly use social media to listen to and connect with consumers. Salesforce was built on providing tools to sales operations but CEO Marc Benioff sees marketers as the company's next billion-dollar business."

Friday, 1 June 2012

"Despite the continued weak macroeconomic conditions across Europe and globally, Europe’s online advertising market grew 14.5% year-on-year to a market value of €20.9bn in 2011. By comparison the overall European advertising market - excluding online - grew at just 0.8% in the same time period.
IAB Europe’s annual AdEx Benchmark survey is the definitive guide to the state of the European online advertising market. Released today at IAB Europe’s Interact conference in Barcelona, it shows that 1 in 5 advertising Euros in Europe is now spent online.
Individual market growth ranged from 55.5% in Russia and 46% in Serbia, to 5.5% in Norway and 4.6% in Romania. Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) markets increased their share of the total from 10.1% in 2010 to 11.8% last year. Russia is now the sixth biggest market with a value of €1.12bn, buoyed particularly by a surging search market. Together the top five markets (UK, Germany, France, Italy, Netherlands) account for almost 67.9% of the total online advertising market, down slightly from 69.2% in 2010.
Head of Advertising Research at IHS Screen Digest and author of the research, Daniel Knapp explains, “Advertising markets are in general very susceptible to changes in the macroeconomic environment – in other words, in an economy where we have the European sovereign debt crisis, high unemployment and cutbacks in consumer spending, we would expect advertising spend to suffer disproportionately as it did on most media in 2011. However, online enjoys a number of unique attributes that have protected it from this effect.
Firstly, it’s a question of formats – advertisers increasingly recognise online as a branding medium; video commands a significant and growing share of spend, and search continues to deliver sound and measurable results. Secondly, the explosion of ‘big data’ has delivered enhanced targeting capabilities, improving monetisation of publishers’ inventory. Thirdly, there is a long term trend for advertisers to shift ad budgets from mature to emerging markets, which is fuelling their online economy. An expanding broadband infrastructure adds to the attractiveness of those markets."
A question of formats
The ROI-centric search format enjoyed the highest growth rate of 17.9% in 2011. However newer formats including video and mobile helped lift the value of Display ad spend, coming a close second at 15.3%.Video now accounts for 8.2% of online Display
Video’s ability to convey brand messages in a narrative makes it attractive to the big spend advertisers who have a strong legacy in telling stories through TV, the classic branding medium since the age of ‘Mad Men’. AdEx Benchmark 2011 includes online video advertising figures for 14 markets, where video represents 8.2% of the total online Display market value. It ranges from its highest at 9.8% in Sweden but it is also gaining traction in CEE markets as 5.8% in Poland indicates. In Germany and the UK video has already crossed the €100m threshold. In the UK the market is worth €126m; in Germany €117m.Mobile average growth rates of 45%
While mobile advertising is still a nascent format with mobile display spend contributing 1-3% of online Display ad spend, it is growing rapidly. The nine markets that reported mobile Display advertising for both 2010 and 2011 recorded an average growth rate of 45.6%.Search experienced strongest growth rates in CEE
Paid-search continued to grow double-digit at 17.9% in 2011 and as such it remains the biggest format in online advertising. Search accounts for 46.5% of total online advertising spend compared with 33.6% for Display and 19.2% for Classifieds and Directories. In 2011 it was the CEE region that really drove the growth of Search, with Croatia, Hungary, Poland, Russia and Slovenia all experiencing significant increases in spend. What the figures alone conceal is the innovation in search – from video to location-based services, data-driven planning to cross-media campaigns with TV in particular, it is the continued creativity of the online advertising industry that allows for search to shine."

"As of February 2012, some 15% of online adults use Twitter, and 8% do so on a typical day. Overall Twitter adoption reamins steady, as the 15% of online adults who use Twitter is similar to the 13% of such adults who did so in May 2011. At the same time, the proportion of online adults who use Twitter on a typical day has doubled since May 2011 and has quadrupled since late 2010—at that point just 2% of online adults used Twitter on a typical day. The rise of smartphones might account for some of the uptick in usage because smartphone users are particularly likely to be using Twitter."

"Looking at related search queries from all 42 Eurovision countries on the day of and day before the finals of the Song Contest, we saw an increase in the share of smartphone and tablet searches by nearly 50% from Eurovision 2011. Consumers in a handful of European countries were particularly savvy, actively using their mobile devices to learn more about the mind-blowing performances they saw on screen. More than 54% of Eurovision fans in Denmark searched from mobile devices, along with more than 40% in both Switzerland and Norway. Additionally, Denmark and Norway had the highest share of Eurovision searches conducted on tablets with 11% of Norway’s and 14% of Denmark’s Eurovision queries occurring on tablets.
Tablets and smartphones come out when the show starts - please note this does not show absolute search volume
Looking at a timeline of searches for Eurovision (normalized based on total search queries for each device type), show us that these mobile and tablet searches were largely complementary to desktop searches. At the primetime of the Eurovision finals, on the evening of May 26th, we observed that people were switching to their smartphones and tablets with more than 38% of queries coming from mobile devices. This is similar to previous search data showing that tablets come out as the sun goes down. The large screen and compact form factor of tablets favour usage in front of the TV and from previous studies we know that the top browsing location is on the couch."

"Reevoo, the social commerce solutions provider, has today released research which reveals that consumers find social content, such as friends’ recommendations and consumer reviews, twice as important as traditional information sources such as recommendations from sales assistants or advertising when making a purchase. Reevoo surveyed 1,000 UK consumers on shopping habits, and the results show that a cumulative 52 per cent of those surveyed rate friends’ recommendations as influential and 48 per cent are influenced by consumer reviews online. Conversely only 24 per cent and 22 per cent respectively rated advertising and recommendations from sales assistants as significant.
A massive 88 per cent of those surveyed said they sometimes or always consult reviews when making a purchase, and 60 per cent said they were more likely to purchase from a site that has customer reviews on. Travel and automotive are the sectors that rely on user reviews the most heavily, with almost a third always reading reviews when booking travel and nearly 30 per cent always reading reviews when choosing a car. Financial services is another area where reviews are becoming increasingly important, with nearly 20 per cent saying they always read online reviews when buying insurance and more than one in seven consumers stating they always read reviews before choosing a bank, mortgage or loan provider."
Source: Press release from Reevoo, 22nd May 2012

"Personal finance journalist Martin Lewis has sold his MoneySavingExpert website to the price comparison company MoneySupermarket in a deal which will net him up to £87m.
Lewis set up the site, which offers money saving tips and advice, reader forums and calculators, in 2003 and it now has around 5 million subscribers to its weekly email. According to Google Analytics, it attracted around 39 million unique visitors and 277m page impressions in the year ending 31 October 2011. It reported revenues of £15.7m for the same period.
Lewis, who is well-known as a media pundit on money matters, will receive £60m upfront in a mixture of cash and shares and a further £27m if he meets targets over the next three years, while he remains at the website as its editor-in-chief. He has said he will give £10m to charity, with £1m going to Citizens Advice."